Excerpt from Miscellanies in Prose and Verse Gentle reader (readers are always gentle), should you read this preface before reading the whole or a part of the contents of this book, it may give you some idea what you may expect. I, the writer, have principally touched upon scenes, objects, and subjects belonging this sublunary world, holding the conservative notion that it is best for a man to keep within his own sphere. I have ventured in one lofty flight to touch on those luminaries, the sun, moon, and stars, but not so as to affect their evolutionary motions, or throw any new light on them. The deepest subject that I have tried to fathom is coal, a subject that might give much light if properly handled, though some consider it a miner question that may be easily settled. As I have not been a student in any department of science or learning, I do not presume to teach, therefore there will be found in this volume little that is instructive. To some. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.